Wisconsin Ranked Ninth to Begin Season

BN Staff

10/27/2006

Ranking only increases the high expectations facing the 2006-06 Wisconsin basketball team.

The Wisconsin men's basketball team was ranked ninth in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches poll released Friday. That is the highest preseason ranking in school history. Previously, the Badgers were ranked 10th in the preseason Associated Press poll heading into the 1962-63 season.

UW plays its first exhibition game of the season on Nov. 3 when it hosts UW-Stout at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center. The regular season tips off on Nov. 12 against Mercer at 4 p.m. at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers return nine of their top 10 players from a team that went 19-12 last year and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the eighth consecutive year. Among those returnees is Alando Tucker, the lone returning first-team All-Big Ten selection from 2006. UW returns three other starters as well in seniors Kammron Taylor and Jason Chappell and junior Brian Butch.